by Deborah Dimmett, University of Arizona
It has often been debated just how much children’s literature is intended for an adult audience to the same extent it is for children. We know from our own experiences with picturebooks that there are some interesting subtleties in the story and the illustrations that hail the adult reader.
A recently released picture book, Little Bird’s Bad Word (2015) by Jacob Grant, is an example of a picturebook that is definitely aimed at both children (ages 3-7) and the adults who read with/to them. The story is about Little Bird who is out flying with his father one day. His father tries to snatch up a wriggly worm that manages to get away. The father angrily yells, “BLARK!” Little Bird is fascinated by this expression and begins using the word repeatedly among his friends and family. “Blark! Blark! Blark!” The father explains that this word is not an appropriate word for little birds. Little Bird is ashamed and embarrassed that he had been using a bad word. But his father rushes to his defense, sharing with all the animals that Little Bird did not know he was using a bad word. The story ends with a comical twist when Little Bird catches the same worm. The doomed worm exclaims, “BLARK!”
The story, though written for a young audience, is actually full of challenges for adults. What is it about “bad words” that make them so bad? If language is arbitrary, then how is it that we can assign a collection of phonemic sounds to represent something so off-putting? Does every society have bad words that only the adults can use? If they are so bad, why do we need them and why is it that only adults can use them, if at all?
In the end, the story suggests that saying a bad word in a context not intended to insult is not going to lose friendships or cause others to think badly of you. As much as I want to believe this, I still remember the cold look I received from my first employer when I slipped and said the “S” word. I was a junior in high school and worried all night that I would be given notice the next day and have to explain to my parents why. Fortunately, I was spared!
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